The Euro US Dollar exchange rate (EUR/USD) pushed forward to its highest level since the final trading day of October during the early part of today’s session as the Greenback gave up further ground against the other majors following a raft of disappointing US data releases. The upward shift to as high as 1.3616 EUR/USD for the pair was driven by a lacklustre set of American Durable Goods Orders figures for last month which revealed that the level of orders for long lasting goods in the States dropped by 2.0% last month.

Weekly Initial Jobless Claims data, also from the States, added to the prevailing downside for the Buck, showing that 316,000 new claimants had registered for unemployment benefit last week – hardly the type of figure which investors would have expected from an economy which is on the mend. The Greenback slumped in response, sending the EUR USD exchange rate straight through the 1.3600 barrier for the first time in some 8 weeks.

Sterling Gains Send The Pound to Euro Exchange Rate Back up Through the Psychologically Key 1.2000 GBP/EUR Threshold

Meanwhile, Sterling has recorded respectable gains against the euro so far today, sending the GBP EUR exchange rate back up through the psychologically key 1.2000 threshold. The Pound Sterling hoovered up support following this morning’s encouraging Q3 GDP data which showed that Britain’s economy expanded by a quarterly 0.8% during the three months to the end of September. The development adds to the impression that UK PLC is healing and that the future may be bright for Sterling.

Gains for GBP EUR would surely have been of a greater magnitude were it not for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s announcement that she has agreed a coalition deal with the second-placed party in this Autumn’s general election which will allow a ruling coalition to be formed. The market abhors a power vacuum, so the news was euro-positive.

Current Euro Exchange Rates (Currency:EUR) 27/11/2013 15:00 GMT

The Euro to Australian Dollar exchange rate is trading up +0.57% at 1.49609 EUR/AUD.
The Euro to Swiss Franc exchange rate is trading up +0.09% at 1.23161 EUR/CHF.
The Euro to British Pound exchange rate is trading down -0.37% at 0.83394 EUR/GBP.
The Euro to New Zealand Dollar exchange rate is trading up +0.68% at 1.66744 EUR/NZD.
The Euro to Polish Zloty exchange rate is trading down -0.05% at 4.20289 EUR/PLN.
The Euro to Swedish Krona exchange rate is trading up +0.05% at 8.91844 EUR/SEK.
The Euro to US Dollar exchange rate is trading up +0.15% at 1.35877 EUR/USD.
The Euro to South African Rand exchange rate is trading up +0.99% at 13.87507 EUR/ZAR.